Interstate Child Support Responsibility Act of 1995

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Improvements to the Child Support Collection System

Title II: Effect of Enactment

Interstate Child Support Responsibility Act of 1995 - Title I: Improvements to the Child Support Collection System - Subtitle A: Eligibility and Other Matters Concerning Title IV-D Program Clients - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require States to have statutorily prescribed procedures to: (1) record child support orders in a central case registry; and (2) collect child support payments through a centralized collections unit.

(Sec. 101) Revises the guidelines for: (1) State plans for child and spousal support; and (2) payments distribution.

(Sec. 103) Requires State plans to establish procedural guidelines for: (1) notification of all proceedings and orders affecting child support obligations; and (2) privacy safeguards regarding paternity and child support actions.

Subtitle B: Program Administration and Funding - Revises the formula for: (1) Federal matching payments to the States; and (2) incentive adjustments to the Federal matching rate.

(Sec. 113) Requires a State plan for child and spousal support to include prescribed procedures for State reviews and audits. Revises the guidelines for Federal evaluation and audit of State programs governing paternity, child and spousal support, and parent location.

(Sec. 115) Revises the automated data processing requirements for State plans to mandate a single statewide automated data processing and information retrieval system which can perform specified tasks.

(Sec. 116) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) to conduct staffing studies of each State child support enforcement program and to report the results to the Congress.

(Sec. 117) Makes funds available to the Secretary for: (1) training of Federal and State staff, research and demonstration programs, and special projects of regional and national significance; and (2) operation of the Federal Parent Locator Service.

Subtitle C: Locate and Case Tracking - Mandates that the single statewide automated data system function as a single central case registry of State-provided services and support orders. Delineates contents of case records and data matching activities, including data exchange with sister States.

(Sec. 122) Requires State plans to include a centralized, automated unit for the collection and disbursement of support payments.

(Sec. 123) Requires the States to have statutorily prescribed procedures: (1) for mandatory income withholding for support payments subject to enforcement; and (2) under which child support orders issued before October 1, 1996, shall become subject to withholding from wages if arrearages occur, without the need for a judicial or administrative hearing. Revises the procedural guidelines for income withholding for child support enforcement.

(Sec. 125) Revises the Federal Parent Locator Service to add kinds of information which may be transmitted to locate individuals and assets for purposes of establishing parentage and executing child support obligations. Requires the Secretary to establish in the Service a Data Bank of Child Support Orders and an automated directory of New Hires.

(Sec. 126) Requires State plans to include procedures for recording social security numbers on certain family legal documents and records, including all applications for motor vehicle licenses and professional licenses.

Subtitle D: Streamlining and Uniformity of Procedures - Requires each State to have the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act in effect as of January 1, 1997.

(Sec. 132) Amends the Federal judicial code to revise the procedures for a court to apply when determining which State order to recognize for purposes of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction and enforcement for child support orders.

(Sec. 133) Amends SSA title IV part D to revise State plan guidelines for mandatory expedited administrative and judicial procedures to include: (1) authorized genetic testing to establish paternity; and (2) the securing of assets and increasing of monthly payments to satisfy a support arrearage.

Subtitle E: Paternity Establishment - Revises the guidelines for statutorily prescribed procedures governing genetic testing and outreach for voluntary paternity acknowledgment.

Subtitle F: Establishment and Modification of Support Orders - Establishes the National Child Support Guidelines Commission to determine: (1) whether it is appropriate to develop a national child support guideline; or (2) based on a study of various guideline models, the benefits and deficiencies of such models and any needed improvements.

(Sec. 152) Revises the requirements for State plan procedures for the review and adjustment of support orders.

Subtitle G: Enforcement of Support Orders - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the priority of refund distribution with respect to past-due support owed to individuals.

(Sec. 163) Amends SSA title IV part D to revise procedural guidelines for: (1) consent by the United States to income withholding, garnishment, and similar proceedings for enforcement of child support and alimony obligations of current and retired Federal employees; and (2) enforcement of child support obligations of current and retired members of the armed forces.

(Sec. 165) Requires States to have statutorily prescribed procedures for: (1) placing liens for child support arrearages on motor vehicle titles of the debtor; (2) voiding fraudulent transfers by a child support debtor; (3) suspending any driver's, business, or occupational license issued to any person who owes past-due child support; (4) reporting to credit bureaus the name of the parent in arrears for child support; (5) extending the statute of limitations for collection on child support arrearages; and (6) calculating interest or penalties on such arrearage.

(Sec. 171) Prescribes procedural guidelines for passport denial (including revocation) upon certification of nonpayment of child support.

(Sec. 172) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should ratify the United Nations Convention of 1956. Requires State plans to provide that the State must treat international child support cases as interstate cases.

Subtitle H: Medical Support - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to include within the definition of medical child support order an order issued through a State administrative process.

Subtitle I: Access and Visitation Programs - Authorizes State grants to States to establish and administer programs to facilitate absent parents' access and visitation programs. Authorizes appropriations.

Title II: Effect of Enactment - Sets forth effective dates for this Act.